Emergency Ambulance Service

The Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) is dedicated to providing consistent, timely and clinically excellent prehospital emergency care to patients. Staffed by 78 personnel, the EAS team works together harmoniously to ensure quality prehospital emergency care and transport. The EAS operates 24 hours a day, year round.

Services

Provision of prehospital emergency care and transportation.

In case of emergency

Dial 511

How are Emergency Calls Managed

All emergency calls are handled by one of our qualified Emergency Medical Dispatchers. All calls are assigned a priority level based on the presenting nature of the illness or the mechanism of injury as follows:

Priority 1

ALL CASES where there is existing or potential threat to life and limb. Any case where is the possibility of Airway, Breathing, Circulation (ABC) compromise falls into this category and are considered emergent. Examples include significant motor vehicle accidents, events of significant interpersonal trauma, acute cardiac and respiratory conditions etc.

Priority 2

These are serious calls and are considered urgent but not emergent to the level as described for Priority 1 calls.

Calls are prioritized according to seriousness. We assure you that an ambulance will be en route to you as soon as possible. In fact, an ambulance may be en route before the telephone call is concluded. However, before the ambulance can be dispatched we need to know what kind of personnel and equipment to send in order to best serve you. Our dispatcher may also be able to give you instructions on how to assist the patient until we arrive.

Sirens and flashing lights are warning signals that mean we are going to an emergency or returning to the hospital with an emergency. We need a clear path to the hospital as the patient onboard is very ill. Be alert, pull your vehicle to the left and stop as the ambulance goes by. This gives the patient a better chance of arriving at the hospital and obtaining critical care sooner.

Minors are defined as those individuals who are less than eighteen (18) years of age. All these patients need to be accompanied by an adult older than eighteen (18) years for them to be transported. In extreme emergencies, where delays in treating the patient’s condition may lead to life-threatening problems, we will treat and transfer the patient to the AED.

Relatives/ Guardians should be contacted and quickly make their way to the AED as consent for further treatment will need to be given to the doctors in the department.

All ambulance crews usually consist of two people who are either Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), trained in Assessment, Stabilization and Resuscitation Techniques or Paramedics who are trained in Advanced Resuscitative and Pre-hospital Techniques along with administering life-saving drugs. Both EMTs and Paramedics are experienced and capable of delivering a high quality service which helps to preserve and save lives daily.

Each ambulance is staffed by two crew members and is equipped to carry one ill patient who can lie comfortably on the stretcher. On the trip to the hospital, one of the crew will sit in the back to ensure that the patient is fine. Each ambulance also has room for one additional passenger in the back so one relative or friend is allowed to ride along. We encourage other concerned persons to make their way to the AED by alternate transport.

All ambulances are equipped with lifesaving resuscitative equipment and oxygen. Some also carry other advanced equipment such as cardiac monitors and drugs.

All Emergency Ambulance Service personnel function in conjunction with the trained emergency physicians in the Accident and Emergency Department. The EMTs/Paramedics are always in radio contact with these physicians should they require advice and direction.